Dia de las Velitas (Day of the Little Candles) is a Colombian holiday where family and friends gather to illuminate the neighborhood with beautiful lights. It is the unofficial start to the Christmas season in Colombia and celebrated on December 7th, the Eve of the Immaculate Conception.
We started off our festivities with putting up the ceramic Nativity set. There is usually some arguing about who gets to put what where, and with delicate ceramic figurines, there is always the fear of something crashing to the floor. Thankfully we managed to set it up again with all the figurines in one piece - PHEW!
Shane picked up take out from Chimborazo for our celebration feast. While technically Ecuadorian, much of the food is just like we had in Colombia - empanadas, yuca, fried sweet plantains, pollo and my all time favorite encocado de pescado (fish in a coconut sauce). Although the kids all agreed that their top two dishes were the fresh cut french fries and tres leches.
This year we attempted to make ice globe lanterns (thanks to the Manaster/Recibe Family for the great idea!) With the warmer than usual temperatures, we had to utilize our available freezer space to get the water to freeze. It was a bit of trial and error with some freezing more solid than ideal, but they still looked pretty in festive Colombian colors.
Being outside on a cold, dark December night in Minnesota can be brutal making our usual celebration short lived. But this year with mild temps and no wind, we had a wonderful evening setting up the candles down the walkway with lots of giggles and enchanting gazes at the pretty lights. The girls were in charge of the battery operated votives, while Owen took care of lighting the wax candles.
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